adminEllina Mhlanga in BULAWAYO
DEFENDING champions in the Copa Coca-Cola Under-16 boys football tournament, Chemhanza, have said they will take it easy when the competition gets underway this morning at various venues in Bulawayo.
The Under-16 boys and Under-17 girls tournament will see 24 schools from the country’s 10 provinces taking part.
Chemhanza, from Mashonaland East, and Chidyamakono from Masvingo, are the defending champions in the boys and girls sections.
They will be joined by hosts Gifford and Montrose Girls High, and the 10 provincial finalists in the finals slated for today and tomorrow.
The matches will now take place at Barbourfields, Mzilikazi and Gifford instead of Mililani, Mckurten and Robert Tredgold as indicated earlier on.
Chemhanza have won the title twice, in 2013 and 2014, and they will be out to defend their title when they start their campaign this morning in Group B which is also featuring Harare’s Prince Edward and Nemakonde from Mashonaland West.
But their coach, Never Mhandu, said this year they were on a rebuilding exercise since they have a new team.
Chemhanza lost 2-3 on penalties to Bernard Mizeki during the provincial finals but being the defending champions they automatically qualify for the national finals.
“The boys have been working very hard everyday and all I can say is we are ready. After losing during the provincial competition we noted some areas which we have managed to correct.
“To us it was a blessing in disguise, we realised our mistakes.
“Our objective this time is different, we want to expose our players. As Chemhanza we are not looking at winning the cup, we are on a rebuilding exercise, expecting to win next year.
“So all I can say is it’s work in progress since we have new youngsters and most of them are going to be here for the first time.
“If they do win the title it will be a bonus for us,” said Mhandu.
All the participating schools arrived in Bulawayo yesterday and went through the vetting process ahead of competition starting this morning.
The Copa Coca-Cola tournament has proved to be one of the biggest schools football tournaments in the country with the boys competition being the 27th edition and the girls event will be running for the fifth year.
The tournament has become a platform for young footballers aspiring to scale greater heights in the sport and, for the boys, some of them have had the opportunity to go for international camps in South Africa where they go through various skill drills designed to improve their game under the guidance of various coaches.
In 2013 the Zimbabwe boys select side emerged as the best team at the Copa Coca-Cola International camp after beating Uganda 3-0 in the finals in South Africa.
Other countries that took part in that camp were Algeria, Kenya, Swaziland, Tanzania, Lesotho, DRC, Rwanda and Burundi.
Three of the players from that team that took part in South Africa – Tatenda Tumba, Tatenda Munditi and Learnmore Muyambo – made it into the All-Stars Copa Coca-Cola African team.
BOYS UNDER-16
Group A: Rujeko (Mashonaland Central), Mpopoma (Bulawayo), Mutare Boys High (Manicaland).
Group B: Prince Edward (Harare), Chemhanza (Mashonaland East), Nemakonde (Mashonaland West).
Group C: Dewure (Masvingo), Guinea Fowl (Midlands), Gifford (Bulawayo).
Group D: Tsholotsho (Matabeleland North), How Mine (Matabeleland South), Bernard Mizeki (Mashonaland East).
UNDER-17 GIRLS
Group A: Furamera (Mashonaland East), Selonga (Matabeleland South), Chidyamakono (Masvingo).
Group B: Sodbury (Mashonaland West), Mwenezi (Masvingo), Seke 1 (Harare).
Group C: Masase (Midlands), Montrose (Bulawayo), Dinyane (Matabeleland North).
Group D: St Francis (Mashonaland Central), Magwegwe (Bulawayo), Nyamauru (Manicaland).
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